Completion, method of completing a well, and a one trip completion arrangement

ABSTRACT

A method of completing a well includes, positioning at least one valve within a tubular, closing the at least one valve, pressuring up against the closed at least one valve in a first direction, actuating a tool or treating a formation, opening the at least one valve without intervention, and flowing fluid past the at least one valve in a second direction.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional application and claims the benefit ofan earlier filing date from U.S. application Ser. No. 14/103,119 filedDec. 11, 2013, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND

Prior to completion of an earth formation borehole, such as are commonlyemployed in the hydrocarbon recovery and carbon dioxide sequestrationindustries, operations typically include running and setting plugswithin the borehole. Such operations may include perforating andfracing, for example. After these operations are finished the plugs needto be removed so as not to create an obstruction to flow therepast inone or more directions. Removal often requires drilling or milling outof the plugs. The industry is always interested in systems and methodsto avoid or decrease the costs associated with the time, equipment andmanpower needed to perform the milling or drilling operation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

Disclosed herein is a method of completing a well. The method includes,positioning at least one valve within a tubular, closing the at leastone valve, pressuring up against the closed at least one valve in afirst direction, actuating a tool or treating a formation, opening theat least one valve without intervention, and flowing fluid past the atleast one valve in a second direction.

Further disclosed herein is a completion. The completion includes atubular, and at least one valve in operable communication with thetubular configured to initially provide no restriction to flow orintervention that is subsequently closable to fluid in a first directionsufficiently to allow actuation of a tool or treatment of a formationwhile allowing fluid therepast in a second direction. The at least onevalve is also openable to flow therepast in the first direction withoutintervention after a period of time.

Further disclosed herein is a one trip completion arrangement. Thearrangement includes a plurality of valves positioned within a boreholeeach configured to close to downhole flow once shifted for at least aduration of time and to allow uphole flow regardless of whether shifted,and a multi-tool configured to separately shift each of the plurality ofvalves and repeatedly perforate a lining of the borehole to allowfracing through the perforated lining with pressure built against one ormore of the shifted and closed valves, such that a plurality of separatezones can be fraced and the borehole open to production upon a singletrip of the multi-tool.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following descriptions should not be considered limiting in any way.With reference to the accompanying drawings, like elements are numberedalike:

FIG. 1 depicts a schematical cross sectional view of a completiondisclosed herein;

FIG. 2 depicts a magnified view of a portion of the completion of FIG. 1in an alternate position;

FIG. 3 depicts a magnified view of a portion of the completion of FIG. 1with the valve shown in a closed position;

FIG. 4 depicts a magnified view of a portion of the completion of FIG. 1after a tubular has been perforated;

FIG. 5 depicts a magnified view of a portion of the completion of FIG. 1after a formation has been fractured; and

FIG. 6 depicts a magnified view of a portion of the completion of FIG. 1after the flapper has been removed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A detailed description of one or more embodiments of the disclosedapparatus and method are presented herein by way of exemplification andnot limitation with reference to the Figures.

Referring to FIGS. 1-6, a completion disclosed herein is generallyillustrated at 10. The completion includes a tubular 14 and at least onevalve 18 in operable communication with the tubular 14. The at least onevalve 18 is illustrated in the figures as being just one of the valves18; however any practical number of the valves 18 could be employed inthe completion 10. The tubular 14 as illustrated is a liner or casing ina borehole 20. The at least one valve 18 is configured to initiallyallow intervention therepast in a first direction indicated by arrow 22in the Figure while being subsequently closable to fluid therepast inthe first direction. Such intervention, for example, includes running ofa wireline, coiled tubing, shifting tool or multi-tool 26 as illustratedherein. The valve 18 is configured to allow pressure to be built againstthe valve 18 while closed sufficient to actuate another tool 28 or treata formation 30. The valve 18 is further configured to be subsequentlyreopenable immediately to allow flow therepast in a second directionindicated by arrow 34 without further intervention. In this embodiment,as indicated by the arrows 22 and 34, the second direction is oppositethe first direction. The valve 18 is further configured to allow flowtherepast in the first direction after a period of time without furtherintervention.

The embodiment of the valve 18 illustrated herein includes a movableportion 38 shown herein is a flapper, however, other embodiments arecontemplated. The flapper 38 is biased toward the closed position and assuch is reopenable immediately to flow in the second direction by theforce of fluid flow in the second direction that overcomes the closingbias on the flapper 38. In this embodiment the valve 18 is reopenable toflow in the first direction after a period of time has passed after theflapper 38 has been closed. This reopening is due to disintegration ordissolution and removal of the flapper 38 as illustrated in FIG. 6.

In this embodiment a sleeve 42 maintains the flapper 38 in the openposition (as shown in FIG. 1 only) until the sleeve 42 has shifted. Thesleeve 42 is slidably sealably engaged with a housing 46 of the valve 18by seals 50 prior to being shifted. The sleeve 42 and the seals 50prevent fluid within the borehole 21 from reaching the flapper 38 untilthe sleeve 42 has been shifted. The foregoing structure allows anoperator to control initiation of dissolution of the portion 38 of thevalve 18 by preventing exposure of the portion 38 to a dissolvingenvironment, such as borehole fluid for example, until the sleeve 42 hasshifted. Thus, the tubular 14 can be run into a borehole 20 and cementedwithout dissolution of the flapper 38 having been initiated.

Components that define the valve 18, including the housing 46, the seals50, the sleeve 42 and the flapper 38 in this embodiment are sized andconfigured to define a minimum radial dimension 58 (shown if FIG. 2only) when the valve is open (either before having closed or afterhaving reopened, pre or post dissolution of the flapper 38) that is nosmaller than a minimum radial dimension 62 of the tubular 14 in eitherlongitudinal direction from the valve 18. As such the valve 18 createsno impediment to interventions including running tools therepast, norany restriction to the flow of fluid through the valve 18 that isgreater than that of through the tubular 14 itself.

The embodiments disclosed herein include a plurality of the valves 18positioned along the tubular 14 within the borehole 20. Each of thevalves 18 is configured to close to downhole flow once shifted for atleast a duration of time while being reopenable to allow uphole flowimmediately, regardless of whether the valve 18 has been shifted or not.The multi-tool 26 is configured to separately shift each of theplurality of valves 18 and repeatedly perforate the lining 14 of theborehole 20 and to allow fracing of the formation 30 through theperforated lining 66 (FIG. 5 only) with pressure built against one ormore of the valves 18 that are closed while the multi-tool 26 remainspositioned within the borehole 20. As such, a plurality of zones 70(with just one zone being illustrated in FIG. 5) can be fraced and theborehole 20 opened to production flow therethrough upon a single trip ofthe multi-tool 26 through the borehole 20. The plurality of zones inthis embodiment being fraced sequentially in the second direction.

While the invention has been described with reference to an exemplaryembodiment or embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in theart that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substitutedfor elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention.In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particularsituation or material to the teachings of the invention withoutdeparting from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intendedthat the invention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosedas the best mode contemplated for carrying out this invention, but thatthe invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope ofthe claims. Also, in the drawings and the description, there have beendisclosed exemplary embodiments of the invention and, although specificterms may have been employed, they are unless otherwise stated used in ageneric and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation,the scope of the invention therefore not being so limited. Moreover, theuse of the terms first, second, etc. do not denote any order orimportance, but rather the terms first, second, etc. are used todistinguish one element from another. Furthermore, the use of the termsa, an, etc. do not denote a limitation of quantity, but rather denotethe presence of at least one of the referenced item.

What is claimed is:
 1. A completion comprising: a tubular; and at leastone valve in operable communication with the tubular configured toinitially provide no restriction to flow or intervention beingsubsequently closable to fluid in a first direction sufficiently toallow actuation of a tool or treatment of a formation while allowingfluid therepast in a second direction, the at least one valve beingopenable to flow therepast in the first direction without interventionafter a period of time.
 2. The completion of claim 1, wherein the atleast one valve includes a flapper.
 3. The completion of claim 1,wherein a movable portion of the at least one valve that allows pressureto be built thereagainst while closed is dissolvable.
 4. The completionof claim 3 wherein the movable portion of the at least one valve thatallows pressure to be built thereagainst while closed is isolated fromfluid within the tubular prior to the at least valve being closed. 5.The completion of claim 1, wherein minimum radial dimensions of the atleast one valve prior to actuation and subsequent reopening are nosmaller than minimum radial dimensions of the tubular longitudinallybeyond the at least one valve in either direction.
 6. The completion ofclaim 1, wherein the at least one valve is closable in response to ashifting tool moving therepast in the second direction.
 7. Thecompletion of claim 6, wherein the at least one valve is a plurality ofvalves.
 8. The completion of claim 7, wherein the plurality of valvesare sequentially closable in the second direction.
 9. The completion ofclaim 7, wherein the plurality of valves are configured to be reopenedto flow in both directions without additional intervention after havingbeen shifted to allow closure of the plurality of valves.
 10. A one tripcompletion arrangement, comprising: a plurality of valves positionedwithin a borehole each being configured to close to downhole flow onceshifted for at least a duration of time and to allow uphole flowregardless of whether shifted; and a multi-tool configured to separatelyshift each of the plurality of valves and repeatedly perforate a liningof the borehole to allow fracing through the perforated lining withpressure built against one or more of the shifted and closed valves,such that a plurality of separate zones can be fraced and the boreholeopen to production upon a single trip of the multi-tool.